Combined railway tie and rail clamp.



W. S. MCCULLEY.

COMBINED RAILWAY TIE AND RAIL CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4. 19m.

:Il ,2U6,4%. Patented Nov. 28, 1916,

WILLIAM S. MCCULLEY, F HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA.

COMBINED RAILXVAY TIE AND RAIL CLAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten Nov. as, raie;

Application led April 4:, 1916. Serial No. 88,860.

o such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

rlhe present invention is directed to improvements in combined metallic railway ties and rail clamp, and has for its obj ect to so construct devices of this character that the rails can be easily and quickly attached to or removed from the tie.

A further object of the invention is to 2o provide devices of this character having novel means for clamping the rails to the tie.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a rail clamp so constructed that the rails can be clamped firmly to the tie and the clamps positively held against accidental disengagement with the rails.

With these and other objects in view, this invention resides in the novel features of 3o construction, formation, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the device.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view. Fig. L1 is a longitudinal sectional view through the device. Fig. 5 is an end view of the device. Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig.

4o 7 is a detail sectional view of the tie showing the manner in which the latches are as- -sociated therewith.

Referring to the drawing 1 indicates the tie, which is formed from suitable metal and has its upper surface provided with a central recess 2, and opening into the ends of the recess 2 are the inner ends of the guides 3, the outer ends of said guides being provided with overhanging beveled shoulders 4f, the purpose of which will appear later. l

Formed integral with the tie, and adjacent the ends thereof are fixed, clamping jaws A and 5, the latter jaw having inwardly directed lugs 6 carried upon its 1nner face, so as to engage in the openings 7 formed in the webs of the rail ends S. It is only necessary to have the jaw 5 provided with these lugs since in practice only one set of meeting rails is located on a tie, therefore it is deemed unnecessary to provide the jaw l with lugs.

The recess 2 has its ends provided with shoulders 9 which are adapted to be engaged by the ends of the turn buckle 10 so as to prevent the same from moving longitudinally of the tie.

Slidable in the guides 3 are bars 11, the inner ends of which being threaded for engagement in the threaded openings 12 of the turn buckle 10, whereby the turn buckle may be rotated to move the bars 11 inwardly or outwardly in said guides.

The bars 11 are rectangular in shape so as to correspond to the shape of the guides 3, and formed integral with the upper surfaces of the bars 11 are clamping jaws 13 which are provided with webs 1A which slide upon the upper surface of the tie. The jaw 13, adjacent the jaw 5, has its inner face provided with sockets 15 which are adapted to receive the inner ends of the lugs 6 when the rails are clamped upon the tie. The outer ends of the bars 11 are provided with beveled shoulders 16, which are adapted to engage under the overhanging shoulders 4e when the clamps are in their operative positions, thus preventing the bars from riding upwardly in the guides.

The turn buckle 10 is provided with intersecting openings 17 which are adapted to be engaged by a suitable bar so that the turn buckle can be rotated to move the jaws 13 into and out of clamped engagement with the rails when desired.

Opening into the bottoni of the recess 2 is an opening 18 which is adapted to be engaged by the lower end of a bolt 19, which is passed through one set of the openings 17, so as to positively hold the turn buckle against accidental rotary movement. The lower end of the bolt is provided with pivoted latches 19, which when spread prevent accidental withdrawal of the bolt.

It' will be of course understood that the bolt 19 is removed when it is desired to rotate the turn buckle, and is used only when the jaws 13 have been moved to their properly clamped positions.

The tie 1 is recessed, as at 20 and 21, so as to lighten the same.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that a rail clamp has been provided constructed in such a manner that the usual spikes and fish plates are eliminated7 and further that a tie and clamp have been provided which are durable, and since the same are formed from metal, they will last indefinitely.

Vhat is claimed is:-

l. The combination with a tie having clamping jaws fixed to its upper surface, said tie having` a recess formed Centrally thereof, a turn buckle rotatablyT mounted in the recess, guides formed in the tie and hav ing their inner ends opening into the recess, the outer ends of said guides being provided with overhanging shoulders, bars slidably mounted in the guides, jaws carried by the bars, said bars having their outer ends provided with beveled shoulders for engaging the overhanging shoulders when the last named jaws are in clamped engagement with the rails, and means for adjustably connecting the bars to the turn buckle.

The combination with a tie, guides formed longitudinally in the upper surface of the tie, said guides having their outer ends provided with overhanging shoulders, bars slidabl7 mounted in the `guides and having their outer ends formed with beveled shoulders, means for adjustablv connecting the adjacent inner ends of the bars and serving to slide said bars in the guides, clamping jaws carried by the tie, and clamping jaws carried by the bars and adapted to coact with the first named jaws to clamp the rails to the tie.

n testimony whereof7 I ailix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

VILLIU UICCULLEY.

Witnesses M, B. Mnn'rs, PHIL PEELER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for nve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 'of Patents. vl'ashington, D. C. 

